Catching crabs is a popular pastime in many countries around the world so as to be able to enjoy eating the crab meat. The usual method is to use a crab net with a secured bait of meat or fish inside to attract crabs into the trap. Once inside the design of the net prevents the larger crabs from escaping, trapping the crabs until removal.
Crab nets may be used on land such as in an estuary or mangrove, or directly in the sea, river or dam. The crab net may be deployed in shallow water close to mangroves on an incoming tide, for example, to be retrieved when the tide has receded again. Or the crab net may be taken in a boat to a suitable location out to sea, perhaps close to a reef, and deployed for retrieval later. When crab nets are to be left unattended it is usual to use a float or buoy to indicate the location of the crab net, with labels to identify the owner. Each net has its own float, usually made of STYROFOAM (trade mark) which is tied to a line tied to the crab net. When the crab net is put or dropped at a desired location the long length of line allows the crab net to fall under gravity to the bottom of the sea, and the float floats approximately above the crab net on the surface of the water to indicate the location of the crab net. As sea levels rise more of the line is needed as the float floats higher, away from the crab net, on the surface of the sea. As the tide recedes the water level drops and the float floats closer to the crab net, requiring less line. In this case the excess line falls under gravity towards the bottom, or the float moves around on the surface of the sea, away from the net. It is this long line that causes problems due to tangling of the line with itself and other objects.
Before deployment of the crab net each line may need to be untangled from itself and usually from other nets as multiple nets are usually deployed. A mess of tangled lines may occur when several fishers are sharing a boat and are deploying and retrieving their nets together. The loose line can tangle with the nets, other lines, and around pieces of equipment in the boat. As other boats pass the wash causes lines to move around and become tangled. The tangling is a serious safety issue as the fisher may trip or have their feet caught in the line. On deploying the net, if there is a large length of loose and uncontrolled line this can easily get caught around the propeller or other parts of the boat either before or during use. Clearly, line will jam the propeller and may immobilise the boat requiring rescue of the fishers. Health and safety in all environments is so important to reduce accidents and so it is most undesirable to have tangling lines loose during crab fishing.
When crabbing the environment is often inhospitable, such as in a mangrove where sand flies and mosquitos quickly find a person and attack. The attack of the sand flies and mosquitos is unpleasant and can lead to infection, but also puts the person at risk of serious illnesses such as dengue fever. It is therefore desirable to be able to deploy the net quickly and get out of the danger zone. Often the line when retrieved takes many minutes to untangle and wind up by hand and tie up so that it is organised for storage until next use. In areas where crabs can be found there is often the possibility of the presence of dangerous saltwater crocodiles, another very good reason not to linger at the location. Where a line has become wrapped around a mangrove sometimes the only way to free the line is to enter the water and try to pull the line off the obstruction. Again in crocodile infested waters or where other dangers lurk, entering the water is most undesirable. At the time all the person wants to do is to get out of the area as quickly as possible to go and enjoy the crab supper and maybe a cold beer after a good day fishing.
In commercial crab fishing the problem of tangled lines is compounded many times over. Before starting fishing 50 or more crab pot float lines must be checked and if possible untangled and where untangling is not possible the line cut and replaced, before use. The loss of time and materials due to tangled lines for commercial fishers using pots can have a significant result on their ultimate profitability.
The problem of tangled lines for crab nets is one encountered everyday by the millions of fishers around the world and yet no solution has been found. The inventor has known of this problem for many years and tried many different ways to find a solution, without success. The inventor has, through careful development and experimentation, developed an automatic retractable float for use with a crab net that solves the problem in an easy to use and manufacture manner. A considerable amount of time and inconvenience is saved by no longer needing to untangle the lines before and after fishing and to tie them up for transportation. It is anticipated that as soon as the invention is readily available that many people will want to replace their existing floats with these automatic retractable floats so as to avoid the main problem and inconvenience of crab fishing-tangled lines.
It would be highly desirable for there to be an improved float for use with a crab net or similar that includes an automatic retraction and extension mechanism to substantially avoid tangling during use.
The invention is described with reference throughout to use with a float for a crab net for catching crabs. The float can be used for other purposes, and is not limited to use with a crab net or pot except as limited in the claims and supporting paragraphs of the description. Use with a crab pot net or similar is a particularly useful application of the invention, to avoid tangling of lines when deploying or retrieving the pots and for this reason, and ease of description, the example of use with a crab pot is given. Nets suitable for other crustaceans, fish or seafood could equally be caught in the net by accident or design, for example in a lobster pot.
For clarity, any prior art referred to herein, does not constitute an admission that the prior art forms part of the common general knowledge, in Australia or elsewhere.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic retractable float that at least ameliorates one or more of the aforementioned problems of the prior art.